Wrong Time, Wrong Place
by sheisamelody
Summary: Lawson and Josh find themselves on a long night shift that quickly turns itself into a night mare.
1. Chapter 1

**Wrong Time, Wrong Place**

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**Summary: **Lawson and Josh find themselves on a long night shift that quickly turns itself into a night mare.**  
A/N: **I did have another Rush fic going on here, but I hit a brick wall with that one and it just went no where. But if I ever finish it, I'll repost it! :)  
**Rated: **T – some coarse language (as usual!)**  
Disclaimer: **The characters from Rush belong to John Edwards, Southern Star et al.

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**Chapter One  
**

-----

It always felt strange for Lawson to see everyone leaving the Tactical Response station just as he was arriving there to work a night shift. Very strange indeed. He parked his car in the usual spot and walked half-heartedly towards the station's operations room with a permanent frown on his face; there, Leon was still sitting at the computer, staring at its screen as he typed frantically away, oblivious to everything and everyone around him.

"Hey Leon!" Lawson whispered into his ear, before a big, evil looking grin formed on his face.

The 'civilian' jumped up in his chair out of fright somewhat and swivelled around, "Shit Lawson!" he said to the Senior Sergeant who was still grinning, "Don't do that! Bloody hell! I thought you may have been TR's ghost for a second there!"

His eyebrows raised out of the smallest amount of curiosity, "It sounds like your imagination is getting the better of you Leon. I think you should go home," Lawson himself was the sceptical type and didn't believe in anything _remotely_ supernatural. Even if he did, he wouldn't believe that there was a ghost haunting the station.

Leon grinned and Lawson rolled his eyes. Reasonableness started to get the better of him as he walked towards the locker room; maybe trying to scare Leon, or anyone for that matter, wasn't the best thing to do, particularly at 11pm.

In the locker room, Josh was sitting on one of the benches, getting his boots on.

"How's it going Josh?" Lawson asked, walking over to his locker.

Josh flinched slightly at the sound of his voice, something which Lawson fortunately did not see, "Hi Lawson," he replied to his mate, "You and me on tonight ey?"

"Uh huh," he grabbed his neatly ironed uniform out of the locker and sat down on the bench near Josh.

"Well I'll be glad when we get in the car. Ever since I got here, Leon has been crapping on about some ghost who walks the corridors of TR -"

Lawson glanced at him out the corner of his eye.

"- And it's starting to annoy me," Josh continued with the shake of his head, "Trust Leon to come up with shit like that."

The smallest smirk appeared on Lawson's face, _Oh good, I'm glad I'm not the only one here who doesn't believe in ghosts._

-----

In the car finally at 11.30pm, Lawson and Josh headed out on patrol on a cold night in Melbourne. Spots of rain began to appear on the windscreen as they were driving along. Nothing of major trouble had come through the radio or the computer yet back at TR's headquarters. Leon however, was in a playful mood and was making strange noises through the radio, directly into Josh and Lawson's ears.

"Cut it out Leon," Lawson told him firmly.

"Oh yes master!" he replied in a high pitched voice.

Lawson shook his head and looked over at Josh, who had momentarily taken his eyes off the road to glance back over at him, "It sounds like someone has had one too many cans of Red Bull this evening."

Five minutes later, Leon's voice cut through the radio, "Hey guys, a couple of the blokes at the St Kilda precinct rang through. They need a negotiator outside the Cosmopolitan Hotel on Carlisle Street. Apparently there's a big commotion going on over there. I don't have all the details just yet."

Despite Leon's voice sounding rather serious, Lawson and Josh weren't quite sure at first whether to believe him or not. So, they decided to make some strange noises of their own through the radio.

Back at the station, Leon knew that he was getting a taste of his own medicine and tried to interrupt them as best as he could, "Lawson. Josh. I'm not joking this time!"

Lawson stopped abruptly, turning into his usual serious self, "Okay Leon," he looked down at their position on the GPS, "We're about seven minutes away."

Josh glared over at Lawson oddly, a questioning look in his eyes.

Lawson, who shrugged slightly, said, "I don't know that he's joking around this time, and it's better to be safe then sorry," he flicked the sirens and lights on, "Step on it Josh."

-----

The scene outside the Cosmopolitan Hotel was almost that of a TV show or a movie. People were scattered everywhere, standing on either sides of the road in a hush; some were merely passing by, wondering what was going on. Others knew all too well what had happened and had their hands covering their mouths out of shock. Three police cars were parked on various sections of the road within the vicinity of the hotel, creating problems for people in their own cars looking for a way to get through. An ambulance was there also, parked over to one side of the road.

When Lawson and Josh arrived they could already tell from the look of the place that they were probably not needed any more, "Something has happened," Lawson observed as Josh turned off the engine and took the keys out of the ignition.

Lawson got out of the car first and approached a fellow police officer, as he stood watching forensic officers going over various surfaces at the scene. As he introduced himself, he saw a blue body bag out the corner of his eye and raised an eyebrow curiously.

"Inspector Greg Chambers," replied the man, as he gestured Lawson to go with him on a small walk around the place to show him what had happened. He explained that initially, when they had called TR, a negotiator was needed as a small group of people were threatening patrons with a knife inside the restaurant section of the hotel. But the few police officers who were there managed to calm them down and made three arrests.

Lawson frowned at him, "Okay ... so ... you'll have to excuse my ignorance, but why is there a body lying on the cement?" he hinted with his eyes in the direction of the blue body bag.

"That's the unfortunate part of this night," Greg explained with a sigh as they continued to walk slowly, "Once the initial threat was over, officers were helping shaken patrons get back to their hotel rooms or back outside. One young man seemed to be a little agitated by the whole event, and when one of my officers was going over to help him, he appeared to put his hand in his pocket to pull something out of it ... and in the confusion I guess, he was shot dead."

Lawson continued to frown, "_What_, did he have a weapon on him?" when Greg finally shook his head, Lawson stopped walking and glared at the older man, "So someone was shot ... for what exactly? The sake of just _being_ here?"

"You probably had to be here at the time to understand it fully," was all Greg then managed to say.

"Yeah, _probably_," he said a little sarcastically, spotting Josh walking over to them, "I think we can go now Josh. Nothing we can do here."

"Thanks for coming anyway. Sorry for wasting your time," Greg called out to them as they walked away.

Lawson muttered something to himself that was incoherent to Josh, who couldn't help but chuckle a little as he started the car. He always found it amusing to see Lawson even the slightest bit annoyed. He seemed to be so cool and in control of everything all of the time.

"What a waste of time that was. Let's get the hell outta here."

"Yeah," he agreed and as he started to reverse, they saw Inspector Chambers running towards the car, waving his hands about.

"Oh shit, what does this guy want now?"

Josh stopped the car, and wound down his window.

The Inspector panted heavily as if he had been running a marathon, "You're Tactical Response right? So you two would know Inspector Kerry Vincent?"

The pair glanced at each other before staring at the man inquisitively, wondering why he was asking them about Kerry, "_Yeah _...?"

"The victim of the shooting is James Hansen. One of our officers just looked him up on the database. His next of kin lists Kerry Vincent as his mother."

Both Josh and Lawson raised their eyebrows at what they were hearing. This was very surprising news to them. They had absolutely no idea that Kerry had a son.

-----

**To Be Continued.**


	2. Chapter 2

**Wrong Time, Wrong Place**

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**Chapter Two**

-----

Lawson and Josh sat in complete silence as they drove to Kerry's house, which was only a few suburbs away. They knew it was late, 1.08am, but it was something that just could not wait until a reasonable hour. It had to be done now.

"Did you know that Kerry had a son?" Josh asked, breaking the quietness that surrounded them; he thought that Lawson probably knew a bit more about Kerry then what he did.

"No. You?"

"No."

The next five minutes were silent again, the only sound was the gentle humming coming from the engine of their 2009 Ford Territory Turbo. As they pulled up outside Kerry's house, Josh glanced over at Lawson, a blank expression on his face. Lawson knew from the look he was given that he was probably going to be the one who had to tell Kerry about her son. He grabbed his mobile phone out of his pocket and dialled her mobile number. It only rang twice before she answered in a tired voice.

"Lawson?"

"Hi Kerry, yeah, I'm sorry to call you this late ... but ..." Lawson replied, realising that his number must have come up on the screen of her phone, "Josh and I are parked outside your house. Can we come in?"

In bed, Kerry jerked upright. An instinct of sorts told her that something wasn't right – but of course something wasn't right; Lawson and Josh were outside her house in the middle of the night. But there was something else; something she couldn't quite fathom. Another type of instinct was about to cop a terrible blow, "Um ... yeah sure. Hang on a sec," Kerry slowly got up and her instincts turned into dread. She quickly dressed and went to open the front door for Lawson and Josh.

Almost instantly, the looks on their faces confirmed her worst suspicions. She let them in silently. They headed to Kerry's lounge room and when they were all seated, Lawson opened his mouth, "It's about James ..." he said slowly, not sure of how to approach this subject, given that Kerry never told them anything about her son.

She was instantly alert. She didn't even know that he was back from overseas. Inside her head, thoughts tumbled around like clothes in a dryer. "What if he's dead?" "Is he okay?" "Has something happened to him?" "When the hell did he get back to Melbourne?". As the thoughts in her head started to turn into a blur, Kerry could not take it any longer, "What's happened Lawson?" she snapped, worried and stressed at the same time.

Lawson looked quickly at Josh, the younger officer fidgeted nervously, but stopped when he felt Lawson's gaze on him. He then spoke, "Lawson and I were called to negotiate at the Cosmopolitan Hotel. But when we got there, we were no longer needed ... and ..." he said, not wanting to be the one to tell Kerry, his superior, that her son was dead.

But he did not have to worry. Kerry did it for him. A look of realisation and horror showed on her face; tears formed in her eyes and started to spill down her cheeks. She drew a shaky breath and said, "He ... he's dead, isn't he?" her voice quavering.

Lawson and Josh just looked at each other, neither of them wanting to be the one to confirm it.

Kerry's face suddenly became angry and she yelled, "For FUCK'S SAKE! Tell me if my son is dead or not!"

Josh looked at her in shock, while Lawson got up and pulled Kerry to him as she completely broke down in his arms, "I'm sorry Kerry," he didn't have to say any more.

"Ah guys, where are you?" Leon's uneasy voice crackled through the radio that only Lawson and Josh could hear, "Did you get to the -"

Josh stood up courteously and walked into the hallway, "_Yes_ Leon," he interrupted him through gritted teeth, "Do you know that _now _is _not _a good time?"

"Well, you know your lapel cameras aren't switched on," Leon replied with a soft, innocent sounding voice, "But I just received information about someone who was at the Cosmopolitan and -"

He interrupted again, "We know."

"What? How do you know? It's only just come through on the computer here."

"Leon, we just know ... okay?" Josh didn't want to say anything else. It wasn't the right time. Or place.

-----

Josh went back to the TR station about an hour later, while Lawson stayed with Kerry at her place for a while. Despite not having his own car there, he knew that Josh could always come and pick him back up again. Kerry tried to argue with him; all she really wanted was to be by herself at that time. Lawson however, had a better reasoning. He thought no one would _really _want to be by themselves when their child had just passed away – she was only saying that to try and palm him off. But he wasn't pushed away so easily, "So do you want to tell me about James?" he began, and when she shot him a look, he quickly said, "Okay. Forget I asked."

"I want to see him."

Lawson frowned at her, before shaking his head and saying softly, but at the same time authoritatively, "I don't think you should be doing that tonight. It's not a very good idea."

She starred down at the wine glass sitting in her hand through blurred, tear-ridden eyes, "I _have _to see him Lawson. I _have _to," she began to sob again despite trying desperately hard not to.

"Not. Tonight."

Kerry tilted her head back so it was resting on the lounge and groaned, "Tell me this is all a bloody nightmare," she then looked over at him, and when he simply looked back at her, a sorrowful expression on his face, she broke down again, "He was in New York. I didn't even know that he was back here."

An odd expression appeared on Lawson's face.

"That's how close we are!" she continued, sarcasm flowing through her still rather shaky voice, "_Were_ ..."

As Kerry slowly began opened up a little more about her son, her mobile phone that was sitting on the coffee table beeped a few times and interrupted her. She had been sent a text message. Both she and Lawson looked at each other, wondering the same thing. Who would that be so early in the morning? Kerry picked it up and looked at the message. Her eyes widened as they moved left to right, suddenly engrossed in every word that she was reading. Lawson saw the strange look on her face and asked, "Everything okay?"

"Tell me I'm seeing things," she handed him her phone.

He too looked at the message. It read:

_Hi mum. I'm home. Just got back this evening. I'm about 2 go & drop my bags off at Geoffrey's... U 2 r still 2gether right? James. xx_

"No, you're not seeing things," Lawson told her, giving her back the phone.

Kerry's eyes suddenly brightened up a little, and her voice was quick as she said, "That could mean that it wasn't James at that hotel. He could be alive ... Right?"

He looked across at her; doubt was written all over his face, but he could understand why she was trying to remain upbeat. No one wants to believe that their child is dead.

She was up off the lounge before he knew it, saying, "I have to go and see Geoffrey. I don't care how late it is."

He sighed, thinking that wasn't a good idea either, "Kerry _don't_ -"

She turned around and glared at him, "You can't stop me Lawson. I have to know if James is there or not."

Lawson got off the lounge and followed her down the hallway. He wasn't in an argumentative mood, but felt that he was the one who had to stay rational, "James could have sent that message to you _hours_ ago, and it's only just got through to you now. Anyway, don't you think that if he _was_ there, Geoffrey would have called you?" he hated being so negative about this situation but he couldn't help it.

Kerry's face dropped a little, the realisation of the worst possible scenario returning the tiniest bit again, before she answered his question, "No. Geoffrey is a prick," and with that she turned around, towards the front door, grabbing her car keys off a small hook on the wall.

"Wait," Lawson stopped her in her tracks. Thinking that she was probably still in a state of shock and denial, he said, "I'll drive you."

She rolled her eyes with her back to him, but gave in, "Yeah. Fine."

-----

**To Be Continued.**


	3. Chapter 3

**Wrong Time, Wrong Place**

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**A/N: **Chapter four of this story might be a while off... I'm a bit busy at the moment, and I've only written a page of it!

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**Chapter Three**

-----

Kerry directed the way to Geoffrey's house in the dark of night, with the earlier drops of rain no longer falling on the windscreen. While driving, Lawson noticed that the location of Geoffrey's house was quite close to the Cosmopolitan Hotel. It was something he didn't dare ask or even _tell_ Kerry about, because of that state of denial he thought she was still in. She probably would have known anyway; she lived with the guy for however many years. As they arrived at Geoffrey's neat looking house, Josh radioed through, saying to Lawson, "Michael and Stella are here at the station now, helping Leon and I out, so you can stay with Kerry as long as she needs ... or rather _wants_."

Lawson smiled wryly at his last few words, and pressed the button on his vest so he could reply, "Okay. Thanks Josh."

Kerry looked over at Lawson questionably, but at the same time, almost _hopefully_ because she wanted to be by herself.

He seemed to notice that small glimmer of hope in her eyes and said, "You are not getting rid of me that easily, Kerry," as she groaned, Lawson glanced out the passenger side window, "Well here we are. Do you want me to come in with you?" when she shook her head, he realised he shouldn't have even asked her that question, "Well, I think I should."

Kerry rolled her eyes at him, before opening the car door, "You're being a real bugger tonight. You know that?"

Lawson gave her a small look that said 'what can I say?'. There was a small pause before he said, "Geoffrey's probably not gonna like you being here."

"I really don't care."

They walked up the pathway leading to the front door together. Kerry was becoming more and more nervous with every step she took. She hadn't seen Geoffrey in a little under a year, and she wasn't particularly keen on seeing him either. Their marriage hadn't exactly ended in the best possible way. In fact, it had ended shit.

Kerry stood frozen at the front door. Lawson glanced over at her and decided to knock himself.

They weren't waiting too long before the outside light was on and the door swung open. There, Geoffrey stood in the doorway, a gruff and somewhat tired looking expression on his face. He saw Kerry and snarled at her, "What are you doing here?" he then looked over at Lawson, having absolutely no clue who he was, "If it's about James," Geoffrey then said before Kerry could even say anything, "He's not here."

Kerry closed her eyes and sighed; that wasn't what she wanted to hear, "Do you know where he went?"

"All he did was drop his bags off here and then he said he was going to the Cosmopolitan Hotel to catch up with some friends for a while. It's only down the road from here," he replied. Glaring at the police uniform Lawson was wearing, he then asked, "Why, what's happened?" Geoffrey always had a soft spot for James, despite not being his biological father.

Lawson thought it was his turn to speak up when he saw Kerry's head slump forward so that her eyes were facing the ground, "There was a shooting at the Cosmopolitan Hotel earlier, we were told that it was James ... But Kerry just got an sms from him, saying he was home and that he was going to bring his bags here."

The flood gates opened and tears began running down Kerry's cheeks again. She knew now that the person who was shot at the hotel _had_ to be James. It _had _to be. Her ex husband pretty much confirmed it. Who else would it have been at the hotel? His double?

"Oh ..." Geoffrey had no idea what to say, "_Shit_. Is he okay?"

Kerry couldn't take it any more. The realisation that her son was dead was all too clear and apparent for her now. She felt like such an idiot for even believing for a second that James was still alive. She turned around and walked as quickly as she could to the car. Being there was becoming overbearing and seeing Geoffrey wasn't helping.

Lawson glared over his shoulder as she slammed the car door behind her, before he looked back at Geoffrey, not knowing what to say, "Thanks for your time. Sorry to bother you so late," he finally conjured up as politely as he could, before he too turned around and walked to Kerry's car.

"Hang on, does Kerry want his stuff?"

Lawson stopped just as he was about to open the car door, "Ahhh ... I don't know that it would be a good idea right now."

-----

At the station, Stella and Michael had no idea why they were at work at 2:45am, despite agreeing to come in. Stella complained that she was tired and wanted to go home to bed. But she really just wanted to go back to the city, which is where she was before she got a phone call from Josh. Stella was _not_ the type of person who simply went home to bed after a long day at work; she had to go out. As a cop, having a social life was very important to her.

Josh rolled his eyes at the sound of her complaining, "Look, Dom has a young baby, I doubt he'd want to be disturbed by me at this time of night. Shannon, she's only just got married recently. You and Michael are the only ones who are unattached ... so to speak," he tried to explain.

"Who says I'm unattached?"

"Stella, just shut up."

Michael decided not to argue with Josh after noticing the mood he was in, "So what's going on? Where's Lawson? Why isn't he here? He's _unattached _too you know Josh," he asked all of those questions at once, not knowing that Lawson was on night shift with Josh earlier.

"He's with Kerry -"

Stella and Michael shared a glance, before both of them started giggling.

"- Her son died earlier tonight," Josh then told them in a matter-of-fact manner; he really wasn't in the mood for anyone's shit tonight.

Those words instantly made the two younger officers shut their mouths. They both stared at Josh, shocked looks on their faces. Shocked, not only because of the words, 'Kerry's son died earlier tonight', but like Josh and Lawson, they didn't know she had a son. They seemed to realise in their own time that there really wasn't a lot they actually knew about her.

-----

Lawson started the car and began to drive Kerry home. Neither of them spoke for a little while before Kerry suddenly said, "I have to see James now, Lawson."

He pulled the car over to the side of the road when it was safe to do so, "Kerry -" he began, "You know that is not a good idea."

She shook her head furiously, "No, no, you don't understand. I have to see him tonight. NOW. I won't be able to sleep if I don't see him ..."

"I'm sure you won't be able to sleep anyway."

Kerry sighed as loudly as she possibly could. He sure was being as stubborn as he could be, "Come on Lawson! You know as soon you go back to work, I'll go and see him by myself anyway. So you may as well take me now!"

When Lawson sighed as well, Kerry thought she may have got through to him. She flashed the smallest of smiles and a look that said '_please_' appeared on her face. He glared over at her and finally said, "Okay! Fine, we'll go and see James, _okay_?"

"Thanks," she replied as he started driving again. Although she wasn't looking forward to it, Kerry knew that seeing James would put her mind a little bit more at ease. At least by seeing his body she would know for certain that he was with his dad somewhere other than on this earth. Unsure of what actually happened to him, she asked Lawson while they were on their way to the morgue.

"Well, as you know, Josh and I weren't there when it happened. And all I was told was that there were armed men inside the restaurant," Lawson explained, as his eyes carefully watched the road in front of them, "They got that sorted out before we got there too. Apparently James was walking out of the hotel and an officer started to walk over to him -"

"Are you going to tell me that a _police officer_ killed my son?" the same anger that was in her voice earlier on slowly returned. She didn't wait for him to answer the question, "What the fuck for?"

Lawson quickly glanced over at her before turning his attention back to the road. He didn't know what he should or should not tell her, given that he himself didn't quite understand the full story, "The explanation I was given sounded suss to me. The officer who shot James thought that he had a weapon in his pocket and was about to pull it out."

"And did he?"

He shook his head, "He didn't have a weapon on him."

Kerry leaned her head back on the head rest and closed her eyes. She felt like screaming so loud that everyone in the neighbourhood would wake up at the sound of it as they were driving past. There were no words that could describe the way she felt – especially after finding out another cop had killed James. The thought of it made her so angry. Was there any justice in the world, it made her wonder. Nothing she could say or do was ever going to bring him back. And just the thought of that was unbearable. Kerry had no idea how or _if_ she was ever going to get through this.

-----

**To Be Continued.**


	4. Chapter 4

**Wrong Time, Wrong Place**

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**A/N: **Okay this is a weird bit. I know basically nothing about morgues and how people's deaths are dealt with immediately afterwards... so I hope it's not horribly inaccurate! But it's probably a little creepy perhaps? And Shakespeare's Mistress, I don't think you're a fanfic stalker! Thanks for the reviews!

Seen as though I've started chapter five, I've edited this and added 'to be continued' at the end.

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**Chapter Four**

-----

The morgue; it was one of the coldest places that anyone could be. Literally. Inside, the air was still and lifeless. When Kerry and Lawson entered, the heavy steel door behind them slammed shut and seemed to suck out what air that was remaining in the building with it. They glanced over at each other, both shuddering involuntarily. It was not the sort of place either of them wanted to be right now, particularly Kerry. The walls inside were painted a light shade of grey. As they walked down the corridor, it seemed to get narrower and narrower, but it was all an illusion. Lawson approached the reception area first. A dark haired, middle aged man was sitting at the desk, looking down at a keyboard as he typed. Lawson cleared his throat to get the man's attention, before introducing himself and asking if James Hansen was there.

The man, whose name tag read Robert Reaves, was dressed in a similar shade of grey as the walls surrounding him. He looked down at a thick notebook that was sitting on the counter in front of him. He ran his index finger across the countless number of names that were written in there, "Ahhh ... yes he is. Just arrived here about 30 minutes ago. Are you here to identify him?"

"Um yes, Kerry is," Lawson answered as he gestured behind him towards Kerry, who took a couple of timid steps forward.

"And you are? The subject's next of kin?" Robert asked abruptly.

_Subject?? _

"Yes, I'm _James_' mother," once again she fought very hard to hold back tears.

The man then haphazardly pushed forward a clipboard with some paper sitting on top of it, "You have to fill out this form before you can I.D him," he didn't seem to care about the predicament that Kerry was about to be in. But perhaps, both she and Lawson thought, he just had a crap job and being emotionless was his way of getting through it, "It's standard procedure these days. We don't just want _anyone_ going in and looking at dead bodies," he explained to them before picking up the phone and punching in a number.

Lawson and Kerry looked at each other out the corner of their eyes. This guy was a strange one, that's for sure. They backed away and sat down on some chairs opposite the reception. Kerry glanced over the form and slowly began to fill it out. Lawson looked to his left, down the corridor they had entered, before turning his head to look at the other side, which seemed to go on forever. The only sound came from Kerry's fast scribbling of pen to paper. When she was done, she got up and walked towards the reception again. She handed over the form, and Robert skimmed his eyes across it for a few moments, before looking back up at Kerry, "Okay. You can go and identify him. He's in room 6A, which is down the corridor," it sounded like he was talking about a hotel or hospital room.

Kerry took a quick look over her shoulder at Lawson before looking back at the older man, "Okay ..." her voice struggling to find its regular volume.

"There will be an orderly in there to get his body for you!" he called out to them loudly as they walked down the corridor towards room 6A, "And when you come back, I'll need you to fill out a notification of death form!"

Kerry looked down at the ground. She couldn't believe that this was actually happening. She was hoping at some point that she would wake up in her bed and realise that the whole thing was all just a bloody nightmare, "Lawson?"

"Yeah?"

"Pinch me."

"You're not dreaming Kerry," he told her matter-of-factly, before adding with a touch of sadness to his voice, "Unfortunately."

She couldn't help but glance across at Lawson quickly. She then diverted her eyes back down to the ground before he noticed. The seemingly sincere tone in his voice was a little surprising to her. But she shouldn't have been that surprised _really_. The fact that he was still there with her, instead of back at work with Josh, should have told her that.

-----

"Hey! It's Stella!" Leon exclaimed as she walked into the operation's room; a few seconds later, Michael followed, "And Michael!" he added, bouncing up and down on his chair.

Stella, who was already in a bad enough mood as it was, turned around to look at Michael, "Who the hell is this hyperactive man?"

Michael decided to 'play along' with Stella, "Hmm I don't know. But it seems like he is on the same stuff that Dom was on that night we were on surveillance at that café. You know, click, click, click, click -" Michael grabbed a pen and started clicking the top of it a lot of times.

"Yes okay Michael! I get it!" Stella interjected, putting a hand over her forehead to try and demonstrate somewhat that she had a headache, "Thanks for that."

Leon was staring at them like a stunned animal who was staring at a car's headlights coming towards it. Obviously neither of those two were in the mood to have a little fun, "So what are you two doing here?" he then asked after a few moments.

Stella closed her eyes. Not knowing that Leon in fact already knew why they were there, she answered him with a heavy sigh, "Josh called us in because Lawson is with -" she stopped when Leon started to grin a little, "Oh, you _know_! You're a bastard!"

Leon laughed as Stella took a swing at his shoulder.

After that small moment of madness, Stella sat down on one of the chairs next to Leon and started swivelling around from left to right and back again, "So did you know that Kerry has a son?" a silent seriousness to her voice, as she looked Leon directly in the eyes.

"Yeah, she told me a while back," Leon answered, "I don't think she _meant_ to tell me though."

Both Stella and Michael raised their eyebrows. Little was known to them about Kerry's life in general. And they were all starting to get the feeling that that was the way she wanted it to be.

Josh soon poked his head inside the operation's room and told them with some unwritten authority in his voice, "Come on guys. We're going out on patrol. Now!"

Stella and Michael groaned reluctantly, but did what the sergeant said, following him out the door.

-----

Room 6A was right at the very end of the straight corridor, despite various other doors before it being labelled with higher numbers than six. Kerry wasn't sure whether to knock on the door or not and glanced over at Lawson, who was looking back at her with an odd, but meaningful expression on his face.

After staring immensely at the black door for a few moments, Kerry decided to knock a couple of times. She closed her eyes and breathed in and out heavily, as she heard movement coming from behind the closed door. This was it. The moment of truth had arrived, and it scared her. A lot.

It wasn't long before a man dressed in white opened the door and waved them both in. He had already brought James' body into the room on steel, stretcher like table, and excused himself to give Kerry some privacy. She looked down at the white sheet that was covering his body and closed her eyes. A freight train that only existed in her mind hit her with such force that she actually doubled back towards the door.

Concerned, Lawson looked over at her, "Are you sure you want to do this right now?"

Kerry opened her eyes again, trying to redeem herself, "Yes. I'm sure."

It wasn't the most convincing 'I'm sure' that Lawson had ever heard in his life, but he excepted it, "Okay. Do you want me to wait outside or -"

"No," she shook her head, stepping forward once more so that she was standing directly in front of James. Kerry stared down; she could see the outline of parts of his lifeless body coming into shape through the sheet - his head, nose, shoulders, hands and feet. Silent moments went by, and Kerry was still staring down at him. She just couldn't bring herself to pull the sheet away from his face.

Lawson himself took a couple of steps towards Kerry and stood next to her.

Feeling him standing there, she reached both her hands out to take the sheet away, before snapping her hands back to where they were, "Oh _shit_ ... I can't do it!" she exclaimed out of sheer frustration and slight angst.

"Here, I'll do it," Lawson told her calmly and walked around to the top of the table, "Just tell me when you're ready, okay?"

Kerry took a couple of unsteady breaths and nodded, "I'm ready ..."

He took hold of the sheet with both hands, looking at her again just to make sure she was still okay with it. When she nodded again, Lawson pulled back the sheet.

Kerry's knees instantly gave way when she saw her son's face, and she crumpled down on the floor slightly. Lawson quickly went over to her and helped her get up. It wasn't the first time he had seen a dead body, but the fact that it was Kerry's son made it all the more uncomfortable.

Tears began to run down Kerry's cheeks. She wanted to reach out and touch James' sandy blond hair but she couldn't move her arms. They were locked into place by her sides. She moved her eyes down past his face. Seeing three bullet holes ridden into his chest brought back the chilling realisation that a police officer had shot and killed her son. Anger began building up inside her again, but she tried to tell herself to calm down.

It must have been the training that Lawson did in psychology because he noticed the anger from Kerry's body language and her tightly clenched fists, "I think we should go yeah? Come back tomorrow ... or later today, rather."

She nodded and put the sheet back over her son. Standing there, staring down at him wasn't going to bring him back.

"I'll take you home."

As they walked out the door, shutting it behind them, Kerry said, "You can go back to work then," Lawson glanced at her out the corner of his eyes and started to say something but Kerry cut him off, "You don't have to stay with me. I'm fine. Besides, you've come here to the morgue with me and ... everything else. I ... appreciate that. I really do."

-----

**To Be Continued.**


	5. Chapter 5

**Wrong Time, Wrong Place**

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**A/N: **This will technically be the last chapter... phew! There _may_ be a short epilogue type thing to follow. But either way I think I'm going to do a light-hearted Rush fic next! :D

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**Chapter Five**

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Daylight was slowly filtering through the few windows that the TR station had in the building. Leon stretched his arms out and yawned rather loudly as he was still sitting in front of the computer, ten long hours after starting work. Lawson, who had got Josh to pick him up from Kerry's house at 4am, walked into the operation's room looking like he had been hit in the face with a brick, "What a long, horrible night," he said, more so to himself then Leon. He stopped suddenly and stared at the intelligence officer, who in that time had yawned again, "Shit Leon, did you stay sitting in front of that thing the whole night?"

"Uh huh," he replied with the slightest of grins.

"Do you get paid well for doing that?"

"I do."

Lawson stopped in his tracks again and frowned, "Well ... Not more than me I hope!"

Leon grinned again, as he shut down the computer, despite knowing that whoever was rostered on after him would probably be pissed off that the computer wasn't on, "How's Kerry?"

"When I was with her, she seemed to be holding it together okay," Lawson replied, "But it's hard to tell with Kerry. She's the bloody queen of hiding things."

Leon nodded in agreement before turning his attention momentarily back to his desk, "I printed this off for you to see as soon as I saw it come up about half an hour ago," he handed Lawson a couple of pieces of paper that were stapled together, "It's the police report on what happened last night."

"Oh good. Thank you," his eyes immediately looked down at the document in his hand, as he walked towards the locker room, without looking back up again.

Josh entered just as Leon was getting his stuff together to leave for the day. He stood up and put his bag over his back, "Hey!" he then noticed that it was only him standing there, "Where's Michael and Stell?"

"Gone home," Josh answered flatly as he too headed towards the locked room to change out of his police uniform. Stella in particular had pissed him off with her attitude all morning so he wasn't too enthusiastic about anything to do with her.

Lawson was so fixated on the police report he had in his hand, that he didn't hear Josh enter the room and only looked up when he heard him say his name, "Oh hey Josh," he said tiredly, not knowing how long he had actually been there for. Josh stood in front of his locker, getting out of his uniform and into casual clothes in silence. He wasn't quite sure what to say. Lawson was still reading the report, shaking his head every now and then. What he was reading was _not _what he had been told by the Inspector Chambers.

_...The man in question, 19 year old James Hansen, had in his possession a knife, and had just pulled it out of his jacket pocket when Senior Constable Timothy Madden shot him three times in the chest. Mr Hansen was pronounced dead at the scene..._

"What absolute bullshit!" Lawson 'slammed' the paper down on the bench next to him. Thankfully in some way for him, Josh had already left the room at that point. He got up and was dressed quicker then even _he_ could blink. Just as he was leaving the room, he ran into Leon who was breathing in and out heavily, "Lawson, I think you should read this ..." he passed him the _Herald Sun _newspaper. On the front page was the headline in bold capital letters - 'Gunned down by Police'.

"Oh shit ... how'd the press get hold of this so soon?" Lawson shook his head a few times in disbelief, taking the paper from Leon's hand, "If it's anything like what the stupid police report says, I don't want to read it."

"Well, they know James is Kerry's son ... they said he had a knife on him ..." Leon told him the basic gist of the article.

"Yeah thanks. I was told James _didn't _have a weapon on him, by the officer in charge of the crime scene," Lawson was beginning to get more and more pissed off; lies were a part of life he hated. He suddenly thought of Kerry and hoped like hell anyone she knew outside of work hadn't read the paper. At least before her, "Leon, I gotta go. I'll see you ... tomorrow?"

"Sure will mate," he replied cheerily, "Bright and early at 7.30!"

And Lawson thought _he_ was a workaholic ... it seemed someone has finally beaten him in that category after 14 years as a cop. He gave Leon a peculiar look before heading out the room.

-----

At Kerry's small but (surprisingly to her) neat house, she found herself standing in the doorway of what was her sons room. Everything was the way it was since he had left for New York at the end of 2006. At the time, Kerry thought she'd leave it like that just in case he came back home one day. Beginning to feel sad at that thought, she took a couple of steps into the room and stopped in front of the wooden chest at the end of his bed. An uncontrollable force made her open it even though she didn't want to. Inside was his old football guernsey and a red football sitting next to it, still inflated. She picked up the guernsey and held it up against her face, nuzzling it almost. There was the slightest smell to the soft material, and it took her a while to realise that this was probably the only real 'thing' she had left of him. His smell.

A knock at the door brought her back to the grim reality and she frowned, glaring bitterly towards the front of the house. _Who the fuck could that be? s_he thought angrily, not wanting to be in the company of anyone else at that moment.

She peeked through the small peephole in the front door and swore again, this time though it was under her breath instead of in her head. It was Geoffrey. The last person she wanted to see right now. Or rather, the _second _to last person she wanted to see. If she saw the police officer who killed James she'd probably end up killing him herself. Kerry stood at the door for a while, wondering whether she should open it or not. In the end, she did, despite her body telling her not too.

"What are you doing here?" she asked him, with a similar tone of voice that he had used to speak to her earlier that morning.

He simply held up the newspaper in his hand without saying a thing.

She read the main headline and found herself gasping for air, "What the _hell_?" Kerry took the paper from his hand; her eyes skimming over it as she read every line. She felt every part of her body beginning to turn into jelly when she finished reading the article, which had continued on page three of the paper. She glared back over at Geoffrey without moving her head, "You read this too?" when he nodded, she continued, "Well, half of this shit this isn't what I was told ... and there is no way James would do that ..."

_Would he?_

That question whirled around her head.

_No. NO BLOODY WAY!_

She answered herself quickly.

Geoffrey was shaking his head in agreement, and answered the question that was in her head as well, "No Kerry. He wouldn't," and with that, he turned around and walked to his car.

Kerry starred at the man she was once married to; dumbfounded as to why he actually came over to her house in the first place, when a phone call would have been sufficient enough. She went back inside and found herself heading towards the pantry. Staring at the bottle of whiskey that was sitting on the bottom shelf, Kerry took it out, grabbed a glass and sat down on the couch.

Alcohol was her demon.

-----

Not knowing that Geoffrey had already taken the newspaper over to Kerry's house, Lawson parked his car out the front and got out. He walked towards the front door, with both the newspaper and the police report in one hand, and knocked a couple of times.

Inside, Kerry thought that it was probably Geoffrey at the door again and decided not to get up off the couch. Instead she continued to slowly drink the whiskey in front of her.

After a short while, Lawson called out her name. He knew that she was most likely home, as her car was parked just in front of his.

Kerry closed her eyes, recognising his voice. She wasn't too sure if she wanted to see Lawson either. He had been quite supportive of her throughout the night, and almost as a result of that, she felt embarrassed. Crying in front of him didn't help the embarrassment either, although he _had _seen her cry once before.

Unfortunately.

She went and answered the door, still so engrossed in her thoughts that she didn't realise she had the glass of whiskey in her hand, "Seriously Lawson, you are the ... third last person I want to see right now."

He raised an eyebrow, "_Third _last?"

She rolled her eyes and with a shrug, opened the door a little more, "What are you doing here?"

Lawson glanced quickly down at the glass in her hand, before holding the newspaper up in front of her. She nodded, "I've seen it. Geoffrey brought it over here not too long ago," there was a slight pause before she continued, "God knows why."

"Maybe he was worried that someone else you knew would ring you up before you had seen it," when Kerry gave him an odd look, he changed the subject slightly, "I also wanted you to read the police report ..."

"Oh?" she looked at the paper in his hand as he passed it over to her.

"Read it with an open mind though," Lawson then told her, "It's similar crap to the newspaper," he turned around to head back to his car, "And don't drink too much Kerry!" he added.

She turned her eyes up towards the bleak looking sky; _smartarse._

-----

Lawson had just started the engine of his car and watched Kerry go back inside, when his phone rang. He struggled to pull it out of his pocket now that he was sitting down in the car, "Hello?" he said when he finally got to it.

"Lawson, it's Josh," came the voice on the other end of the phone.

The words 'double shift' entered Lawson's mind as soon as he heard his mates voice, "Yeah Josh. What's up?"

"You know that cop who shot Kerry's son last night?" Josh asked, and didn't wait for Lawson to answer, "He's in hospital. Psych Ward."

"_What_?" a word finally escaped his mouth after what seemed like a very long silence, "What happened? Did he just lose it or something?"

"Something like that," Josh replied with no tone in his voice, "Apparently a few hours ago, he tried to kill himself by slitting his wrists. He was taken to hospital in a stable condition, and now he's been transferred to the Psych. Where are you now?"

"Oh I'm parked outside Kerry's house ... was about to go home," Lawson was struggling to put his sentences together, "I just went over to show her the police report on what happened last night," the phone conversation with Josh ended a few minutes later. Unlike Josh, who was going home to bed, Lawson no longer felt tired. _Psych Ward? The guy is in a bloody psych ward? God if Kerry found out, she'd kill him for sure._

Lawson kept his mobile phone out, attached the blue tooth piece to his ear and dialled in the number for the St Kilda police station. When someone answered the phone, he said, "Ah yes hi, I was wondering if Inspector Greg Chambers was there, please?"

"Yes he is," replied the professional sounding female voice, "May I ask who's calling?"

"My name is Senior Sergeant Lawson Blake, with Tactical Response."

"Okay I'll put you through to him Mr Blake."

"Thanks," Lawson replied, and was next listening to some classical music while he was being transferred to the Inspector. He didn't mind though. He hated most music with lyrics anyway. Too 'hip' for him.

"Inspector Chambers speaking," came the man's voice after about a minute, "Senior Sergeant Blake, what can I do for you?"

_Cocky little - _"Hi Inspector Chambers," Lawson said as politely as he could, "I wanted to talk to you about the Senior Constable who sh-"

"You've heard," the Inspector interrupted him, "Look, I can't really talk about any of this at the moment."

"Oh I think you can," Lawson told him firmly, "You're his boss. What happened to him?"

"He's not very well, okay? Schizophrenia."

"So he wasn't well enough to do his job last night?"

"I don't have time for this Senior Sergeant Blake."

Lawson changed the subject, "Okay. Look. _You're _the one who told me that James Hansen didn't have a knife on him and yet -"

"He didn't," Greg knew that he was probably getting himself into deep shit with Lawson, and probably the whole of Tactical Response.

"So why did the police report _and _the bloody newspaper for that matter, say otherwise?" Lawson asked a little angrily. He was waiting rather patiently for a reply, when the next thing he heard was beep, beep, beep. Followed by a lengthy dial tone. He had been hung up on.

Charming fella.

Lawson thought that some of the cops at the St Kilda station seemed to covering for the Senior Constable who shot James. And while he understood somewhat why they would do such a thing (he had done it before for Josh), an innocent life had been lost as a result of an unfit cop. It could have been anyone who was killed. It was only a matter of time. James was just in the wrong place at the wrong time.

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End file.
